1.The service
DeonPay lets businesses collect mobile money payments from their customers, keep the money in a DeonPay balance, and move it out to a mobile wallet or a bank account. You can use DeonPay through the merchant portal or connect your own systems through the API.
Payments, cash-outs and mobile money transfers are processed by Selcom, a licensed payment service provider in Tanzania, and by the mobile networks (such as M-Pesa, Mixx by Yas, Airtel Money and HaloPesa). DeonPay is not a bank, and your balance is not a bank deposit and does not earn interest.
2.Your account
DeonPay sets up each account. Before we do, and at any time afterwards, we may ask for information about your business and the people who own or run it, for example registration documents, a TIN, identity documents and bank details. This is required for anti-money laundering checks and by our payment partners. The information you give us must be true and kept up to date.
The account owner controls the account. The owner can move money out, manage API keys and change business details. Staff added as officers can collect payments and view records, but cannot move money out.
You are responsible for everything done with your logins and API keys. Keep passwords and API keys secret, only keep API keys and webhook secrets on your own servers, and tell us at once at payments@deonpay.app if you think they have been exposed. You can replace a leaked API key yourself in the portal.
3.Acceptable use
You may only use DeonPay to receive payment for lawful goods and services that your business provides. You must not use DeonPay:
- for anything illegal in Tanzania, including fraud, money laundering, terrorist financing or unlicensed financial services;
- to sell prohibited or restricted goods or services, such as illegal drugs, weapons, counterfeit goods or unlicensed gambling;
- to collect payments on behalf of another business that does not have its own DeonPay account;
- to send payment prompts or links to people who have not agreed to pay you, or in a way that misleads them;
- to interfere with, overload or try to get around the security of DeonPay, Selcom or the mobile networks.
We may ask you about any payment, cash-out or withdrawal, and you agree to answer promptly.
4.Collecting payments
You can collect with a USSD push (the customer approves a PIN prompt on their phone) or with a payment link (the customer pays on Selcom’s payment page). A payment is only complete when DeonPay shows it as COMPLETED. Only deliver goods or services after that, or after you receive the payment.completed callback.
A payment that is not approved expires, and nothing is charged. The amount of each completed payment, minus our fee, is added to your DeonPay balance.
Your customers buy from you, not from DeonPay. Questions about your goods and services, refunds and complaints are between you and your customer. DeonPay does not refund customers on your behalf. If you agree to refund a customer, you can send the money with a cash-out.
If Selcom or a mobile network reverses a payment, for example because it was fraudulent or made in error, we will deduct the reversed amount from your balance. If your balance is too low, you agree to repay us.
5.Fees
There is no setup fee and no monthly fee. Our current fees are:
- Collecting a payment: 5% of each completed payment, deducted from the payment before it reaches your balance. There is no fee for failed, cancelled or expired payments.
- Cash-out to a mobile wallet: TZS 1,248 plus 3% of the amount (the 3% part is rounded up to the next shilling), deducted from your balance together with the amount.
- Bank withdrawal: TZS 1,500 per withdrawal, deducted from your balance together with the amount.
We may agree different fees with your business in writing. We may change our fees by telling you by email at least 30 days in advance. If you don’t accept the change, you can close your account before it takes effect.
6.Cash-outs and withdrawals
Cash-out sends money from your balance to a mobile wallet in seconds. It is enabled per account and may be subject to daily limits. If a cash-out fails, the amount and the fee go back to your balance. Check the recipient’s number before you send: a cash-out that reaches the wrong wallet because of a number you entered cannot be reversed by DeonPay.
A bank withdrawal sends money from your balance to the bank account registered for your business with DeonPay. We pay withdrawals within 24 hours of the request, except where a check under these terms is needed or the banking system is unavailable. Withdrawals only go to the registered account. To change it, contact us and we will verify the change before using it.
Each cash-out or withdrawal request with the same reference is processed only once, so retrying a request does not send money twice.
7.Holds, suspension and closing your account
We may hold money in your balance, limit or suspend your account, or refuse a payment, cash-out or withdrawal, if we reasonably believe it is needed to prevent fraud or loss, to comply with the law or a request from a regulator, court or law enforcement agency, or because you have broken these terms. Where the law allows, we will tell you why and what you can do.
You can close your account at any time by emailing payments@deonpay.app. We can close it with 30 days’ notice, or straight away if you have seriously broken these terms. When an account closes, we pay any remaining balance to your registered bank account, after deducting amounts you owe us and any amounts we are required by law to hold.
8.The API
If you use the API, follow the API documentation in the portal. You must verify the signature of every callback before trusting it, and must not rely on a callback alone where you can check the payment status with the API. We may change the API; we will give reasonable notice of changes that could break an integration that follows the documentation.
9.Availability and liability
We work to keep DeonPay available and secure, but it depends on Selcom, the mobile networks, banks and internet providers, and it may sometimes be unavailable or delayed. We are not responsible for losses caused by events outside our reasonable control, such as network outages, or by your own systems, staff or the security of your logins and API keys.
To the extent the law allows, we are not liable for indirect losses, such as lost profits or lost business. Our total liability to you for any claim is limited to the fees you paid us in the 3 months before the claim arose. Nothing in these terms limits liability that cannot be limited under Tanzanian law, or our duty to pay you the money in your balance.
You agree to cover our losses caused by your breach of these terms or the law, or by claims from your customers about your goods and services.
10.Changes, law and disputes
We may update these terms. We will email you about important changes at least 30 days before they take effect, unless a change is needed sooner to comply with the law. Continuing to use DeonPay after a change takes effect means you accept it.
These terms are governed by the laws of the United Republic of Tanzania. If we have a dispute, we will first try to resolve it by talking to each other. If that does not work within 30 days, the courts of Tanzania will decide it.
Questions about these terms: payments@deonpay.app.
Questions? Email payments@deonpay.app.